Man United stat leaves Roy Keane in disbelief… as it exposes just how badly they perform against the top teams under Erik ten Hag: ‘Is that real?!’

Roy Keane has described Manchester United‘s away results against the top nine teams in the Premier League under Erik ten Hag as ‘ugly’.

Ten Hag’s side are in seventh place following their 1-0 defeat at Newcastle and have struggled away to the top teams since ten Hag’s appointment in 2022.

A graphic from Sky Sports showed that United have lost 10 such fixtures since the start of last season, while they drew the other, meaning they haven’t won away to a big team in the league in 11 attempts.

Former United midfielder Keane was heavily critical of the club for those results and was especially alarmed with the amount of goals that they conceded in some games.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Keane said: ‘That doesn’t look real. Is that real? It looks ugly.

United suffered another defeat in such a fixture as they were beaten 1-0 by Newcastle

Since Erik ten Hag’s appointment, United have lost 10 and drawn once away to top teams

‘That looks ugly and it’s the amount of goals. We were discussing earlier, six at City, seven at Liverpool, four at Brentford.’

Keane described United’s decision to persist with players who haven’t helped them to progress as ‘insanity’.

He said: ‘It’s not good, they’re obviously in a tough place, the manager’s under pressure. There were players playing last night and you thought they would have been leaving the club maybe in the summer. You’re still going back to the same players who have been getting Man United nowhere fast over the last one or two years.

‘What’s the sign of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. This group’s not going to change. If they’re not going to work as hard as the opposition then you’re in trouble, and they don’t.’

United lost 4-0 away to Brentford in ten Hag’s second game in charge before losing 6-3 against rivals Manchester City and 3-1 to Aston Villa.

United were left frustrated after being beaten 3-1 away to Arsenal earlier this season

In March United lost 7-0 against Liverpool as ten Hag’s struggles away to top sides continued

They were subsequently beaten 3-2 by Arsenal before their infamous 7-0 loss to Liverpool. That was followed by a 2-0 defeat to Newcastle, a 2-2 draw with Tottenham and 1-0 loss to Brighton.

Matters haven’t improved for Ten Hag’s side this season with regards to away games against top teams – they lost 2-0 to Tottenham, 3-1 to Arsenal and 1-0 to Newcastle. 

United have some challenging games coming up – they host Chelsea on Wednesday and face a trip to Liverpool later this month.

Following a lacklustre performance against Newcastle, ten Hag will be eager for his side to bounce back quickly.